Well……I’m not even sure who is reading this or who has read any of my older blogs. Maybe just those people that come to either sell me web-design services or SEO marketing services or those scam people that just leave random comments that aren’t even in english……

I graduated with a graphic design degree and naturally when thinking about starting a blog, of course it should be about graphic design right? Naturally, I should write about that, the thing that I am still paying for…..the thing I was supposed to create a career doing. Except, thats not what I am passionate about. It is not all I love.

I have had difficulty coming up with things to write in the box of just “graphic design” and truthfully I am not even working on graphic design projects anymore.

I love so many things and in my journey to find my “niche” I realized I might not have JUST ONE.

Why can’t I love a lot of things? Also, why can’t I share all of them with you in one place?……….

I understand the marketing stand point that having a niche helps you define your target audience and really helps in growing your influence.

The way I see it is it wouldn’t be fair to just focus on one thing and not share with all the other niche’s and all the other audiences that might want to hear what I have learned or what I might have to say about whatever……

I love the Lord and the word and really get passionate about that….

I love working in film……

I love acting…..

I love production…..

I love creative things and get really inspired by marketing and design….

I love crafting….

I love to paint…..

and……oh man the list goes on

The truth is I have no idea where this road of my life will lead me. I don’t know what content I will create…..but I do know that I want to share my experiences with you. I learn so much from other people that choose to share their experiences with me. Really sometimes they save me from having to experience their journey or encourages me to experience things they enjoy. Isn’t that really the thing? We should all share and help each other achieve our goals and do what we are called to do.

So I want to do that for you……..whoever you are……

I know that, probably, no one is reading this…….but maybe there is someone out there that decided to take the time to read this blog and to them I say,

THANK YOU!

And I hope you join me on this journey of “finding my voice” and the portion I have to share with the world.

Sometimes maybe you don’t have to have it all figured out to just push the “start” button…..

So here I go……I am pushing start and I am making the decision right now to not let fear or the need to be perfect stop me from sharing with you whatever I can that might help you and bring encouragement or value to your life.

Maybe this year we can do that together. Let’s release whatever it is inside that we should share with the world.

WoW…..I feel so much better……empowered……let’s do this!

So here is to a new year – 2017!

Let it be a year full of joy, full of adventure.

A year that propels us to a new level.

When we get there may we cherish each moment and not miss the smells, the colors, and the sites.

To new goals – and to never holding back and never letting fear stop us!

Everyone thinks to themselves, “oh I should’ve done…” right. Come on you know your thinking it all the time. And we kick ourselves over some things we “shoulda/woulda/coulda” done for years. We look back and regret things that we know now that we didn’t know then.

I do this so often and I have come to the realization. That we can’t hold on to the thoughts of the shoulda/woulda/couldas. They harbor negative feelings about ourselves. The overall feeling behind a thought beginning with one of those words is a negative feeling directed inward. Instead of letting it effect or define us let’s learn from it. Take those thoughts of “shoulda/woulda/coulda” and say ok then next time I will. We can’t be afraid to try things and fail. Or keep our focus on what could have been or what we didn’t do in the past we have to keep moving forward and looking to the future with hope and excitement of what should happen could happen and what will happen.

It sounds (in my head) like I’m giving a motivational speech. I guess in a way I am kind of giving a speech to myself Everytime I start to say coulda/woulda/shoulda. Instead when times and thoughts like that come I will face it with “I can / I will / and I shall”

When looking back at situations with regret or wondering if you made the right decision if you “could have done” this or that, we are always looking back with more knowledge and a different mindset then we did in that moment. It is useless to dwell on the past wishing it were different. Or wondering if you made a different choice if life would be better. God has a specific plan for our lives. All we have to do is stay in faith which is the substance of our Hope of things not seen.

Let’s look at the future with hope and look on our “not so great” moments as times that we grow and learn from to help us succeed the next time. When we could have, the next time we can. When we should have, the next time we shall and when we would have, the next time we will.

Really? Why would you want to “figure it out for yourself”? Why do people think that it’s better for someone to have to go through horrible experiences to learn when someone else can tell them and save the headache. I am a firm believer in learning from your mistakes. Don’t get me wrong. I am just seeing so many people feel the need to experience things for themselves and I don’t see the point. If I go through something terrible and I learn from that, when I share with someone my experiences and my advice on how to avoid the same problem, if my friend then goes and decides they need to see for themselves, when they go through the same issue I went through I would feel confused and a bit hurt. As if they didn’t trust my advice.I would also like to think that the fact I have overcome some issues and learned from it, that the things I have learned can help someone and that the poo I went through, something good is coming out of that. Isn’t that what blogging is about also? That we as writers share our experiences and give input on how we overcame some issues or and ice on how to deal with problems and as readers we are searching for answers to problems.

I have also seen this same belief in parents and children. Parents will at times withhold advice or information that would help their child succeed further than they did. Instead of giving them tools to excel, tools they squired through hardship, they say “They have to learn it just like I did.” Why? Isn’t that why parents are there? To help thier children have a more successful life. To excel and exceed thier parents? The impartation of wisdom from parents is crucial to a persons success.

(watch this video above. I started a Youtube Channel in order to learn from you all and to share with you everything I know.)

There is a reason God made us to have relationships with each other. So that we can lift each other up and help each other overcome obsticles and help warn so that obsticles can be prevented.

We can’t be stubborn and too proud to learn from someone else. If we all learn from each other’s mistakes then we will all succeed more and reach our highest potential. There is supply in the joints and in the joining of people together. Be humble to listen and ask questions and be caring and loving enough to share what you have learned so others don’t have to endure the same headaches.

I know you have done the same thing, don’t lie. You have flipped through your friends Facebook photos or scrolled through Pinterest finding amazing blogs all the while slipping slowly into a depressed state. Am I right? Who is with me?

Being a designer and involved in productions I should know that everything is a facade. More and more people know how to photoshop. Not to mention, those Instagram filters can really do a work on a bad photo. Yet I also get sucked in to the vortex of comparison with Facebook friends, complete strangers with a blog or YouTube channel that makes me green of envy. What they don’t show is their bathrooms right before they cleaned them and set up their lights to make the perfect “DIY tutorial” of course everyone is going to clean and perfect every detail before they post it on the Internet for the world to see. Yet we forget when we are surfing to remember that everyone poops and everyone has BO at times.

We are all made perfectly and should never compare ourselves to someone else. Especially when they have highly produced their images and videos to look amazing.

What ultimately matters is not how awesome your life looks on Facebook or any other social network site. What ultimately matters is who are you face to face. How do you treat other people? It’s a heart matter. Social media has crippled our priorities it has made us more focused on images, how many likes and how many friends we have that we forget to make real connections with people. Going beyond ourselves to invest into someone else and build relationships that change things and make a difference.

Have you ever had a really awesome idea and you start thinking, planning and thinking some more. Then you start sketching, planning then doing a little more thinking and all of a sudden you see your idea on a blog or social media somewhere. You kick yourself because you knew you thought about it first. If only you had done it quicker instead of thinking so much. I don’t know about you but I feel like that has happened to me countless times.

I am definitely battling the perfectionist syndrome. When you have an idea you “see it” you can see the whole picture and how it should play out. So you think everything has to be perfect before you even start. Wrong!

This actually is a mind shifter for me. I think on one hand 60% of the work is in the planning. But at some point there needs to be action taken. Even just a small step towards the goal. There are so many things out there that can cause us to feel insecure to take a step because, what if we fail? Well, what if we don’t?

I can understand the battle of overcoming that mindset. I think for artist it is the most difficult because it is more than just product or just making something. It’s about making something beautiful. When we as artists see the image and see the plans in our mind so beautifully crafted. When what we put out at first isn’t what we imagined we aren’t satisfied until it’s finished. Just like Leonardo DiVince, he has many paintings that are still “unfinished” but to everyone else they are looking at a complete masterpiece. To Leo he would see the pieces from his mind that were missing on the canvas.

We should strive to get to the completed masterpiece but also be bold enough to just create. Beauty is really in the eye of the beholder. When we create things that are not yet “perfect” in our mind. Someone else might look at it and think it is more than perfect.

Be encouraged that whatever you are imagining will come. So take a step towards that dream and start with the first brushstroke. Don’t be discouraged by the process because one day you will make your Mona Lisa.

Surprisingly I get this question a lot. “What Do Graphic Designers Do?” The fact that graphic designers are involved in so many facets of business, it surprises me that some people don’t know what a Graphic Designer does.

If this is you and you are not clear on what a graphic designer does then I would like you
to take a moment and look around. Do you see a magazine, poster, brochure, commercial on the T.V. Those are all examples of things a graphic designer would make. The list is endless!

Check out this video where I share more about what graphic designers actually do.

In my mind there are a few categories of graphic design that one could fit into. I will list them and explain, but I must say this is my opinion of how to categorize the massive possibilities in the world of Graphic Design.

<1> Print and Layout

In this category the work is endless. It includes areas like magazine layout, advertisements, stationary, brochures, and more. Companies often have a graphic designer on staff for promotional designing. And being able to typeset or tweak layouts in order to stay consistent with the brand of the company. Or you can find print and layout designers working for magazines. This is a more obvious field because the nature of a magazine is completely all layout and print. Also book publishing companies will work with designers for cover designs and typesetting. Advertisement agencies of course need designers for print and layout design of posters, billboards, etc. Often times designers will work under a marketing team and get a lot of cues and direction from them on what should be done. So there is not very much freedom in this area.

<2> Illustration

This is a given. This area deals with illustration of course working in programs like Adobe Illustrator creating vector images. This category is also vast because you can expand into things like illustrating for video games. Also working with graphic novels to illustrate for them. Or, of course, illustrating for children’s books. Often times you can be hired by larger companies to illustrate different things for manuals (ie parts for a manufacturing company, or drafting plans that have not yet been built) there are many options when is comes to illustration.

<3> Photos and Photoshop (Raster)

Here is where pretty much everyone in every field will dabble. Dealing with photoshop, it is a very robust program with so many possibilities, because of that it can be used in almost every field. But this area would include things like photographers, flyers and poster designs can often be made within photoshop. Any retouching of photos for magazines or advertisement layouts.

<4> Video/Film (after effects)

This area is very different from the other areas but important to know. After effects deals with animation. It is a program that can add animated elements to a film. Or just create animated elements on its own. You might see these after effects in the news when a name or title appears on the screen in front of the news caster. Or at the front of a movie when the production company logo comes on the screen in an animated way. This is used and created in after effects. The thing about this program is that all of the other programs are needed. Often times you will need to create a design in Adobe illustrator and the import that design into After Effects to animate it. The same thing with photoshop. So in this area knowledge of the other programs is required. Also I have found in experience working with film and production. There is a lot of need for graphic designers in the world of film. I have had to recreate money and design fake bank signs and create fake custom magazine covers for film projects. Because a film is so specific to the script it will call for things that have to be custom created to fit the scene. Many people underestimate the need for a graphic designer on set for a film production, but there is a huge need for them.

Do what you love!

The possibilities are endless when it comes to the world of all things creative. I hope this blog helped open your eyes to some of the ways you can use graphic design to create! Go out there and create the things only you can create. We all have something unique inside of us that we need to share with the world so get out there and CREATE!

Today is the birthday of a very special girl in my life. As I get older it is easier to see things clearly and one thing you realize is how important relationships are. The good ones are worth doing whatever it takes to keep them. I have seen over the years that I am so blessed to have a friendship like I do with Tiffany Marie.

Many people hope and search for a friendship like ours. A kind of friendship where you speak with your eyes and everyone around you is confused because you have a whole conversation with fragmented sentences. I don’t take her for granted. She is my best friend/cousin and I don’t take it lightly that not everyone is blessed with a friend as wonderful.

Growing up I would think that friendships had to be large in number, that you were better off having a lot of friends rather than a few amazing friends. It isn’t always rainbows and butterflies but allowing yourself to be open to someone and let them in really close is the most rewarding relationship ever. No one can ever replace Tiffs place in my life. There was a place carved out just for her that only she can fill.

She is the most talented make up artist and stylist I know. Today she is one year older and I am so blessed to have shared this life with her every year of our lives and every year to come she will be my bosom friend. Best friends are a gift from heaven.

To design or not to design that is the question. It still amazes me when people ask me the question “What does a graphic designer do?” Maybe the fact that the possibilities of a graphic designer are endless causes the profession to be somewhat a mystery to those around us.
I would like to encourage you to look beyond the bounds of your knowledge and think of the possibilities. I also started out knowing nothing of graphic design or what you can do with it. I was limited in my knowledge of the possibilities. Hopefully by sharing my experience it will shed some light and help you make a decision. Degree or no degree?

Journey to the Graphic Design Degree

When I started out my freshman year in college I was headed for the stage. I considered art a side thing, a hobby. As I progressed in my Theater Major and Fine Arts Minor I found myself looking forward to my art classes more than my theater classes. Don’t get me wrong I live for the stage and anything dealing with theater and film. I just seemed to see myself progressing in art and my theater classes taught things that seemed like second nature to me. So with a lot of discussion and thinking and praying I felt like “fine arts” was the way to go.

Never did I ever think of going into graphic design as a concentration. Painting was where I was headed. I took an entry level design class to fill a credit. I felt like an ant in Times Square. I was in over my head. I can remember freaking out not knowing how to log out of my user name on the Mac computers in the design lab. (granted this was before Mac was everywhere) I can remember gazing with my chin on the floor watching the seniors zip around adobe design suite like a boss. Every day I would go home thinking “I will never do design for a living.”

Was I ever wrong. I knew from the Lord that I was supposed to pursue Graphic Design. It scared me and I didn’t ever think I would get good at it. Let me tell you it is the best thing I have done (Go God, He knew what He was doing) Thinking about it, I know how to act and I know how to paint. I was staying in my comfort zone. Why should I pay thousands of dollars on a degree to learn something I already know?

What I Learned from my Graphic Design Degree

You might be surprised to know that the thing I value the most from my Graphic Design Degree has nothing to do with Photoshop, kerning, leading, points, or picas. The best thing I received from my graphic design degree was the ability to learn. Being self taught is the best quality to have as a graphic designer. With adobe updating every couple of years and technology moving at the speed of lightning, you never quit learning in this field. As a graphic designer you have to have the ability to research and get in there and figure it out. I can remember my best friend and I would get so frustrated when our design professor would send us away telling us to “look it up”. At first I thought he was cruel not helping us and telling us how to do this or that. Then after my first year I had taught myself web design and looked more like those seniors zipping through photoshop and InDesign. I realized he was teaching us the most important thing a graphic designer can have, the ability to be self taught.

On graduation day I can remember thinking that I didn’t feel like the same person that started out in that first “Graphic Design 101” course. It even changed my personality. I know that might sound crazy but I see the world very differently. I am much more organized and detailed than I was in High School.

Can I still do Graphic Design without a degree?

I am a strong believer in higher education but I don’t think it is impossible for someone to be very successful without it. With the vastness of the internet anyone can learn on their own if they are willing to do the work. I can say for myself I am thankful for the experience the degree gave me. I could have gone through and googled and tried to get where I am on my own but I know it would have taken me about 10 more years to get here. I feel as though the degree was like a launching pad giving me all the tools I needed to be a successful designer. I have still continued to grow and work on my craft, as every designer or artist should. We are always growing and always learning in our lives.

If you are thinking about getting a graphic design degree I encourage that thought. I have loved the possibilities that graphic design has opened up for me. Let me know what you think? Have you enjoyed your degree? Do you think a degree is necessary?

A logo is so much more than just a picture with the company’s name on it. It should be a picture that says 1,000 words about your company and who you are as a business. It should be an image that sticks in people’s head so that if you are a lawn care business and they look outside in their yard and see the landscaping is looking a little dull then your logo pops in their head, they pull out their mobile device and Google your company. Bam you have business. Branding your company should be the first thing you do when starting a business.

Branding is more than just the logo. Your brand is everything from color scheme to fonts and graphic detail elements. These are things that make you company memorable. And when people see your flyers/brochures or billboards around town then they biegin to connect the dots and you become a recognized brand. If I were to put a curved line with the colors red and blue. Instantly you would think of what?

Pepsi…right?

This is because they have discuss fully made their brand so recognizable world wide that they don’t even need to use their name anymore. There are plenty of companies that have done the same. There are businesses that have done so well keep continuity in their brand for decades that it has caused such a worldwide recognition. Such as:

Coca Cola

The “Disney font” you could write anything in this font and you instantly think of disney.

The Nike logo. They don’t even have to put their name. Just a swoosh would do and you know exactly who it is.

The list could go on. When a company has successfully branded themselves then it stands out throughout all of thier marketing and products.

Many times larger companies will create a branding manual. This will keep from anyone altering designs that go outside the bounds of the company branding. The are very helpful for companies to maintain continuity with ads and other products that might be made in house without a designer. Being able to use the exact codes for colors or the exact fonts that stay within the guide of the brand to create more continuity. Branding guides can be a small overview or large and detailed book depending on the size of the company or the restraints on the branding.

The average person can not specifically tell you why but they will pick up on the subtlty of having the same exact coded colors throughout and the same fonts carried through the company. It creates and stability as well as a professionalism that can take you company/business/ brand to the next level.

There are so many challenges to designing a brochure but also so many opportunities to be creative and stand out from the sea of brochure designs. Almost every business has a brochure (or should) and that greatest challenges is probably the challenge to stand out from the crowd of brochures.

I have to say that designing brochures is not the most exciting thing for me. I love a challenge but it just seems less than exciting to design a brochure but they are such a great staple marketing need for every business. It is exciting when you can get creative with the folds or cut outs in the design but not everyone’s budget can allow for that kind of added printing expense. Here is where the challenge begins.

When designing a brochure you have to balance the visual layout with the “information” content. When people are thumbing through a brochure you have to be mindful of where the information is and how the eye flows across the page. Think about leading them with the graphics to each important point you want to bring out about your business.

Using color is important. Don’t be afraid to use large images that bleed over across panels. This will bring the whole design together across the brochure and encourage people to continue reading throughout the information. Also remember to pull out information and make it special. One of the ways to do this might be a “block quote”. You want to think of creative ways to pull out key points you want people to see that might draw them in to read more in the brochure.

Brochure designs don’t have to be boring or daunting. Pull out those creative juices, grab a good cup of coffee and have fun. Think of the endless possibilities you can create to enhance the key points of your company, event, or organization.

Hey! I’m Emily Jean!

Hello! My name is Emily and welcome to my little corner. In the world of so many blogs I am honored you stopped over to mine. I hope you enjoy! My hope is to share as much as I can with you. I am a designer and a bit of a jane of all trades, so hopefully there is something that will enrich your life. Please click around, stay a while, and drop me a note and let me know you stopped by!